Harry Potter and the Phoenix's Ruby
by Sayin Shinigami
Summary: Fifth year fic. Eventual HG and RHr. On his way to the Burrow Harry is magically side tracked. Why? What is the force behind this strange event? Author's Note: Sorry everybody, but this fic won't be continued. However, A sixth-year re-write is in the work
1. Boredom and a Cat With Good News

Harry Potter and the Ruby of the Phoenix Author- SayinShinigami Rating-PG-13 Setting: Fifth Year Genre- Acton/Adventure Disclaimer- I do not claim the rights to Harry Potter or any of the Characters in the series. I'm borrowing them purely for entertainment.  
  
A.N.: This is my first (and hopefully not last!) Harry Potter fanfiction! Please go easy on me, and the best review you could give would have a little constructive criticism as well. I live off the stuff. Thanks, peace, and may the Schwartz be with you! ************** Life at Number Four Privet Drive was, to say the least, dull. At least, it was for a certain individual named Harry Potter. After all, when one is discouraged from doing one's summer homework and made to do the most tedious tasks all day there is no other way to describe it. Of course, it could be described differently for the other occupants of this common little house.  
  
Those other occupants, Vernon, Petunia, and their son Dudley Dursely were terrified of Harry. The reason is because Harry was a wizard. The only wizard to survive being attacked by Voldemort and became known as The-Boy- Who-Lived. Not that the Durselys care, as far as they're concerned Harry's just a freak that happens to be related to them. Although it did have its advantages to be scared of. One example was the fact that they didn't force him to do much housework like other families because they were afraid he'd bewitch something, even though they knew he wasn't allowed. So Harry spent most of his time in his small room, thinking. Which is what he was doing at this moment.  
  
I wish Hedwig was here, he thought glumly, at least then I'd have someone to talk to. He sat up on his bed and walked over to the middle of his floor and pried up the loose floorboard where he kept his secret supply of food. The diet was still imposed on Dudley, but Aunt Petunia still made sure Harry got the least amount of food. After grabbing a few Pumpkin Cakes and a bottle of Butterbeer he replaced the floorboard and moved over to his trunk. Grabbing a few pieces of parchment and his quill and ink bottle he sat down on his bed and began to write out letters to his friends,  
  
Ron,  
  
How's your summer going? Mine's been absolutely boring. The Durselys are completely ignoring me and I have nothing to do! I even did all of my essays. Has Dumbledore said if I can come over yet or not? I can't stand it here anymore. Please owl me a letter soon.  
  
Your Friend, Harry  
  
Setting the letter aside to dry he re-inked his quill and started another letter,  
  
Hermione,  
  
How's Bulgaria with Krum? Ron's not too happy that you went there, but at least he's stopped calling him, "Hermione's little Vicky." In the last letter I got from him he said that at least five times. And before you start worrying about my homework I'll tell you now that I've already finished it. Have a good time and write back soon.  
  
Your Friend, Harry  
  
Putting away his quill and ink he set his letters aside while he hid the evidence of eating more than Dudley. He then grabbed his Omnioculars to search the skies for Hedwig. Failing to see her he lowered the Omnioculars and looked around Privet Drive. There wasn't much to see, except maybe that tabby cat sitting on the fence.  
  
Letting his gaze wander it eventually came back to the tabby. There was something peculiar about it, but what? Raising his Omnioculars to his eyes he looked at it a little closer. It sitting completely still on the fence, not even it's tail was moving. Zooming in a bit he saw an odd marking around its eyes.  
  
A small smirk came to his lips, "It's McGonagall. I wonder how long she's been watching me." Opening his window he looked around to make sure no one was around he called out to her, "Professor! Why don't you come in a bit? I'm sure you know that the Dursleys are out."  
  
The cat continued to stare at him, but then quickly ran across the lawn and jumped into open kitchen window. Harry walked over to his door and opened to find the Transfiguration professor outside his door.  
  
"Hello Harry. How's your summer been?"  
  
"Absolutely boring! The Dursleys act as if I don't even exist. I'm so bored I did all of my summer essays. Do you have any idea when Professor Dumbledore will let me go to the Weasly's? I can't stand it here any more."  
  
"Actually that's why I let you see me. Albus asked me to come over here and tell you that you may go there tomorrow at eight o'clock in the morning."  
  
"But how? They would've owled me by now if they were going to pick me up tomorrow."  
  
She smiled a bit and reached into her robes, "That's why I came to tell you. Auther and Molly wanted to surprise their kids so they asked Albus to make a Portkey to take you there." As she said this she pulled out an envelope, "This will activate at eight a.m. on the dot. Make sure you're holding on to your school supplies."  
  
"Wow. Thanks professor. I can't wait to see Ron's face when I show up!" There was a bang from outside Harry's door and his uncle's voice announcing that Harry was going to help carry in the new television.  
  
McGonagall gave Harry a questioning look, "Television?"  
  
"A muggle thing. Kinda like wizarding photographs. Dudley broke his last one when he fell on it."  
  
"Oh. Well I have to go now, and try to behave yourself at the Weasley's."  
  
Harry gave his most innocent look, "Oh I will professor."  
  
"That didn't work on me when your father did it and it won't work on me now," with that she turned back into a cat and carefully leapt out the window. After closing the window Harry opened his door and walked out to carry in Dudley's latest television.  
  
After carrying it upstairs he went to inform his uncle about his travel arrangement for tomorrow. He cautiously knocked on the doorframe of his uncle's study, "Uncle Vernon?"  
  
His uncle looked up in annoyance, "What do you want boy? I'm busy." Harry glanced at the comic section of the newspaper in his uncle's meaty fist.  
  
"I wanted to tell you I'm leaving tomorrow morning at eight."  
  
Vernon's resounding shout rattled the windows in his study, "WHAT? Those.those.FREAKS will be coming to MY house tomorrow! I forbid it! Every time they're over my house is destroyed or something happens to Dudley! I forbid them to come over!" His face was so red Harry thought he looked like he had drunk some Pepper-Up Potion.  
  
"Like you could stop them," he muttered under his breath. To his uncle he said, "They're not coming to get me. I'm leaving with a Portkey. It's a wiza-"  
  
"You will not mention that abnormality in my house! Fine! You may leave tomorrow! But if anything happens to Dudley or my house you will face the consequences next summer!" With that he huffed and went back to the "important" business of reading the comics.  
  
With a smile, Harry said thanks, and went back to his room. He then packed up his few possessions into his trunk and placed Hedwig's cage on top of it. Just as he set it down, the cage's owner flew in the window and landed on his bed. With a hoot in greeting she held her leg out, and attached to it was a piece of parchment. Brow furrowing with curiosity Harry took the letter and unrolled it. A grin came to his face when he saw it was a letter from Sirius!  
  
Dear Harry,  
  
How's your summer been? I hope what happened last year hasn't bothered you too much. I was just thinking of writing this letter when Hedwig flew in the window. I just wanted to tell you that I'm okay and Buckbeak is okay as well. Also there's been sightings of Wormtail! Enough of them that the Ministry is considering my innocence. I'm actually allowed out in public! But I have to have a Ministry official by me at all times. Don't worry though, they assigned me Percy Weasely. I think his dad had something to do with that, though. So I'll see you at the Burrow later this summer and have a real celebration for your birthday! Moony said he'd try to make it as well. All I have left to say is DON'T behave at the Dursely's. You are the son of a Marauder after all.  
  
Love, Sirius  
  
Harry's grin grew even wider. Now he got to spend his summer with Sirius too! This was going to be his best summer ever! With that last though he climbed into bed and slept a dreamless sleep. 


	2. A Gift of Power

Harry Potter and the Ruby of the Phoenix  
  
Author- SayinShinigami Rating-PG-13 Setting: Fifth Year Genre- Acton/Adventure Disclaimer- I do not claim the rights to Harry Potter or any of the Characters in the series. I'm borrowing them purely for entertainment.  
  
A.N.- This is the part that will have an influence on the rest of the plot, so pay attention! All those not paying attention will lose 50 House Points and have a detention with Snape!.okay, I don't have that power yet, but soon I will! Enjoy the story, and remember this: The eagle may soar, but weasels don't get sucked into jet engines!  
  
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~  
  
Harry awoke the sound of an off key buzzer. Fumbling around for his glasses he put them on located the sad excuse for an alarm. Upon locating the curved throw-off of Dudley's (or should that be "sat-on"?) he turned it off and looked at the time. Six in the morning! He thought incoherently What am I doing up at six? As he lay in bed wondering about the time, it came back to him. He was going to the Weasley's this morning!  
  
After a quick shower and an attempt to tame his wild hair, At least here the mirrors don't tell me it's hopeless!, he went back into his room to check his things. Opening his loose floorboard, he checked every nook and cranny in it for any dropped food or empty bottles. Finding none, he took to pacing and glancing at the curved clock every now and then.  
  
7:58, period why is it the last two minutes feel like two hours? As he sat on his trunk fuming he let his mind wander forward to the Weasley's. Maybe he'd beat Ron at chess this time around (Not bloody likely!). Maybe he could catch the twins with a prank.he'd have to owl Sirius and Remus about that.  
  
Suddenly he felt that now unpleasant tugging sensation behind his navel and was pulled into the whirling familiarity of a Port Key.  
  
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~  
  
Harry appeared at his destination with a faint pop! Unfortunately, he wasn't at the Burrow. Quickly reaching for his wand he had put in his pocket earlier he looked at his surroundings. It looked like he was in a cave made entirely of gems. Diamonds, sapphires, emeralds, and all sorts of precious stones made up the walls, floor, and ceiling. But something was missing, and upon closer inspection Harry noted there wasn't a single ruby in the cave. As he looked around he heard a faint crackling noise, but didn't see its source.  
  
Hearing it get louder behind him he turned, wand held out and ready for any threat. But he didn't know how to react to what he saw coming at him.  
  
It was a griffin. A griffin made out of what looked like fire!  
  
Harry searched his memory for any water spells he knew, but quickly realized anything he threw at that wouldn't be very effective, he could feel it's heat from a fair distance away. It stopped its advance and looked into his green eyes with its white flames.  
  
Welcome, wielder of the Phoenix Fire.  
  
Harry was certain that the.thing.had made no noise, but was positive he heard it. He stared back at it, willing himself not to blink. "Did you talk to me? What are you?"  
  
I am the Guardian of the Fire.  
  
"What do you want? And what is the 'Phoenix Fire'?" To give you that which is yours and will aid you in times to come.  
  
Harry stared at the guardian. Give him what was his? He gave the beast an incredulous look and asked, "What is it?"  
  
This. And with that the Griffin of fire spread its wings and began to glow with unleashed magic power. Then it began to disappear, as if it were being drawn back into something. When the flames were gone, in their place a jewel floated. A ruby shone in the air, making the rest of the cave look dull and dead. Harry walked over to the stone.  
  
"This is mine?"  
  
A faint breeze stirred in the cave, and on it he swore he heard the words claim it.  
  
He slowly reached out and touched the gem. A feeling of pure power flooded into him, but as quickly as it had come it was gone, and he was left holding the ruby.  
  
What now? Harry thought to himself.  
  
Go sit down on your trunk.  
  
What are you? And what are you doing in my head?  
  
I was the Guardian of the Fire, but I've returned to the Ruby.  
  
Oh.  
  
It's time to go. Don't show the Ruby to anybody, it will reveal itself to those who must see it.  
  
What do I do with it?  
  
You'll know when the time comes.  
  
With a bewildered look on his face Harry walked over to his trunk and hesitated before sitting down. He was told not to show the Ruby to anyone, so he quickly opened the trunk, wrapped the Ruby in his father's Invisibility Cloak, and tucked it away at the bottom of his trunk. Sitting down on his trunk he felt the sensation of tugging behind his navel and was pulled into a whiling vortex of color and was soon deposited at the Burrow. He stood up to drag his trunk over to their door only to be knocked over it and sent sprawling with whatever had collided with him.  
  
Feeling a slight weight on his chest he groaned and shook his head. Opening his eyes he met a pair of warm chocolate brown eyes looking into his own emerald ones. Harry wondered why he couldn't break eye contact with her. After all, she was just Ron's little sister right? But upon feeling her body pressed up against his he realized Ginny wasn't so little anymore.  
  
He quickly brought his thoughts back to the present when he heard her clear her throat, "Hi Harry, what a surprise." 


	3. Tripping Over Eachother

Harry Potter and the Ruby of the Phoenix  
  
Author- SayinShinigami Rating-PG-13 Setting: Fifth Year Genre- Acton/Adventure Disclaimer- I do not claim the rights to Harry Potter or any of the Characters in the series. I'm borrowing them purely for entertainment.  
  
A.N.: Not much to say. Sorry. Peace.  
  
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~  
  
"Hi Harry, what a surprise..."  
  
If there was one thing Ginny Weasly liked about Harry, it was his eyes. She had a great view of them now too. Right now she had the best view of them, her eyes were only three or four inches away from his. It was rapture. It was bliss. It was torture in its purest form.  
  
Harry shifted uncomfortably under her, "Hi Ginny...uh.could you.er.get off me?"  
  
Ginny flew up to her feet faster than the fastest flying snitch and offered her hand to Harry. Grasping his hand, she helped him to his feet.  
  
After recovering somewhat she gave him a questioning look. "Not that I'm complaining, but what are you doing here?"  
  
"Your parents' idea. They wanted to surprise you and your brothers. Dumbledore agree to make a Port-Key for me to use to get here." Harry glanced around, "Could you help me here? Everything flew out of my trunk when you tackled me."  
  
"I did not tackle you! I was out for my morning jog and you appeared right in front of me!" she huffed out, but bent over to help anyway.  
  
They worked in silence for a few minutes, cleaning up Harry's things until the red-headed girl's giggles broke the silence. Harry glanced up to see what was so funny. Ginny threw him a bemused look.  
  
"Harry, are you Scottish?"  
  
He eyed her with a look of apprehension he answered her. "No."  
  
With a flourish she revealed her source of amusement. "Then why do you have a pair of tartan boxers?"  
  
The Boy-Who-Lived turned a lovely shade of crimson. He made a lunge for the under garment, but Ginny dodged with reflexes born of being the little sister of Fred and George.  
  
This continued for a few minutes, Ginny just dangling the boxers just in front of Harry, then removing them just as he was about to grab them. Harry, tiring of the game stopped and pleaded with Ginny. "What's it going to take for you to give those back? I'll give you anything!"  
  
Ginny grinned, "Anything?"  
  
Harry thought a moment. He certainly couldn't give up his invisibility cloak, Marauder's Map, or that ruby he just got. After a quick mental inventory of his trunk he looked up. "Almost anything, I won't give up my cloak or map."  
  
Her eyes lit up. "That's okay, I just want some socks."  
  
"Socks?"  
  
"Yes socks. Those lacy things mum gets me are too thin. So I just take everybody else's socks. But I get to pick the pair from you."  
  
Harry gave her a skeptical look, "Okay, fine, take them. They're in my cauldron under the cloak."  
  
Ginny tossed him his boxers and practically pounced on his trunk, digging through what they had already put back in it for the socks. With a cry of triumph she pulled out the socks and Harry's heart fell. It was the pair Dobby had given him for Christmas! That was his favorite pair! As she turned to him he felt ice form in the pit of his stomach. She was holding his Invisibility Cloak!  
  
"Harry, why is this cloak so heavy? What's in it?"  
  
He searched his mind for an answer, "Um, it's, uh, stuff, yeah, stuff for, er.school, and Quidditch.so you can just put it back in the trunk now."  
  
Ignoring his words she unwrapped the Invisibility Cloak and gasped, "Harry! What is this? Where did you get it?" she marveled at the jewel in her hand, "It's beautiful."  
  
Not knowing what to say Harry stood there and floundered about for an explanation. Finding none he sighed and looked at her. "I'm not really sure. But please don't tell anybody about it. It's supposed to be a secret. I'll tell you later, I promise."  
  
Ginny looked at him with a look of suspicion. "Okay, but I want an explanation later, okay?"  
  
Harry nodded, "Okay. Now will you help me carry my trunk in?"  
  
Ginny sighed in mock exasperation. "Oh, fine, I guess I could take time out of my busy schedule to help you mere mortals."  
  
Harry flashed her a smile and it took all her will power not to blush as they hefted the trunk and carried it to the Burrow. Ginny went to open the door, but Harry reached out to stop her, grabbing her hand. Both of them willing back a blush she turned to him.  
  
"What's up?"  
  
A look of concern crossed Harry's face, "Please, don't tell anybody about the Ruby. Something tells me it would be.bad.if word of it got back to Voldemort."  
  
She looked him in the eye, "I know. I promise I won't tell"  
  
Harry gave her hand a brief squeeze, "Thanks Gin."  
  
Blushing, she opened the door, "Anytime." 


	4. Fun Times at Home

Harry Potter and the Phoenix's Ruby  
  
Chapter 4  
  
Author's Note: Hey everybody. I just wanna say thanks for your support in writing this fic. I've only gotten positive comments on it so far, and that means a lot to me. So thanks. I'm gonna try to work a little something into this fic now. I'm a Star Wars/Anime junkie (I know the scripts of Episodes IV, V, and VI just from watching the movies, and I've read every novel out there). I'm gonna leave little references to Star Wars and Animes lying around the story. Find them and I'll mention you in the Author Notes in the next chapter! Good Luck!  
  
***********  
  
Ginny opened the door to the Burrow, and, for Harry, it was like coming home after a trying ordeal. Quietly, so as too keep the surprise, they carried his trunk to the kitchen, only to find Arthur and Molly Weasly there. But Harry still surprised them, as they were expecting him to knock on the door, not just walk in with his truck and their only daughter.  
  
"Harry dear! It's so good to see you!" Mrs. Weasley clucked her tongue as she looked Harry up and down. "Those darn Muggles! They're not feeding you properly, and for a boy your age.ohhh." despite her apparent anger she still managed to squeeze the air out of Harry with the force of her hug. Harry didn't mind, after all, it wasn't like he got any attention from the Durselys. They were more likely to spit on him than hug him.  
  
"It's great to see you too, Mrs. Weasley ." Harry managed to choke out after she released him. Mr. Weasly got up and shook Harry's hand saying he wished he could stay, but had pressing matters at the Ministry to take care of. With that he stepped out of the house and walked a little ways down the dirt path before Apparating to the Ministry of Magic.  
  
"Ginny, dear, could you go wake up your brothers while I start breakfast? Poor Harry here looks like he hasn't eaten a decent meal all summer." She shook her head at the oddness of Muggles and walked over to the stove, preparing to cook breakfast. Harry rolled his eyes and Ginny giggled.  
  
"Okay mum. I'll get 'em up." She walked down the hall a bit, then turned back to Harry and gestured for him to follow, and raised a finger to her lips, telling him to be quiet.  
  
"What's up?" Harry asked when he reached the base of the stairs.  
  
A smile lit upon Ginny's face, and Harry quickly noted it was the same one Fred and George got when they were about to do something that cost House Points. "Get under your Invisibility Cloak and hide in the corner. When Ron comes down the stairs hit him with this." She passed what looked like a Filibuster Firework into his hands. He eyed it carefully.  
  
"What is it? You're mum'll kill me if I set off fireworks in your house."  
  
She giggled again. "It's not a firework. It's called 'Love Rocket #9'. It makes an image of your victim's love interest float above their head for half-an-hour."  
  
Harry's eyes widened. Shaking his head he stated, "The twins have corrupted you, Gin. I guess they want to make sure the havoc doesn't stop after they leave this year."  
  
Ginny snorted. "Corrupted? Half the things they make are my ideas. I'm a co-owner of Weasly's Wizardry Wheezes. And I know who their 'mysterious' benefactor is too."  
  
You could've flown a hippogriff through Harry's mouth, it dropped open so far. He stammered, speechless for a moment, then managed to get out a small, "Oh."  
  
"Get under your Cloak! I've got to go wake up the sleeping uglies." Ginny and Harry snickered. She pushed him toward his trunk, which was pushed up against the wall, and ran up stairs.  
  
Harry rummaged through his trunk and reflected on recent events. First, he'd gotten that odd ruby. Then was run over by Ginny, which, he blushed as the thought about it, wasn't that bad an experience. Then Ginny revealed she had a mischievous streak as bad a Fred and George. And now he was going to prank his best friend before he even knew he was over for the summer. He rolled his eyes. He didn't even want to think about what this summer was going to hold for him.  
  
Hearing feet on the stairs he swirled his Cloak about him and quickly, but quietly, closed his trunk. Fred and George stumbled around the corner, tripping over each other. Guess they're about as much of a morning person as Ron. Harry thought to himself. Next down the stairs was Percy, who was following Sirius Black, Harry's godfather. Harry had to restrain himself from jumping on Sirius, but another thought entered his head, Wait. This prank Gin and I are playing on Ron is worthy of the Marauders. I'll wait and see what he thinks of it. Next down the stairs was Ginny, who threw a quick wink at his corner, and Harry couldn't help but wink back, even though he knew she couldn't see him. Last down the stairs was Ron, who was tripping along just as badly as the twins were. Harry stalked out of his corner, following his prey.  
  
Ron stumbled into the kitchen, taking his seat at the table, not noticing the extra place next to him. Invisible, Harry crept up behind him, muttering under his breath, "Stay on target, stay on target." He pointed the "Love Rocket #9" at Ron's back, Locked on to the Target. He pulled the string.  
  
There was no bang, boom, or other sound that usually preceded the twins' pranks, proving they didn't make it. A pink stream of magic slipped out the front and wrapped around Ron, who, along with everybody but Harry and Ginny, didn't see it. Then, slowly, the portrait of a girl began to form above Ron's head. At this point, so as to prolong the prank, Harry tapped Ron on the shoulder and swept his Cloak off. Ron, Sirius, Percy, and the Twins all jumped in their seats. Ginny started to giggle uncontrollably.  
  
Ron whipped around to see what assailed him and exclaimed, "Bloody He..."  
  
"Don't you dare finish that word Ronald Weasley!"  
  
"Er.Harry! When did you get here?"  
  
Harry glanced at his, still broken, watch. Shrugging he looked up at Ron. "Oh, I'd say about twenty minutes or so," he grinned, "Why? Did I startle you?"  
  
"Jeez Harry!" Fred (or George, you can't really tell) exclaimed. "You just about."  
  
".Gave us a heart attack!" the other twin finished.  
  
Percy rolled his eyes, "Children."  
  
"You're one to speak Percy, you're only nineteen." Sirius turned to Harry, looking stern. "Harry, you should know what you did was foolish, reckless, and silly." Harry lowered his under the scolding from his godfather. "I want you to tell me one thing young man.why didn't you let me in on it!" With that Sirius grinned and stood up to give his godson a crushing hug, not unlike the one from Mrs. Weasley . Harry hugged Sirius back just as stongly and grinned.  
  
"Ron, why is there a picture of Hermione floating above you?" Mrs. Weasley asked. Harry stepped back from Sirius and snickered. Turning to Ginny he threw a quick salute. "Mission, Accomplished."  
  
Ginny nodded, face straight. "Good job, soldier." They both stood like that, for a moment, before they both broke out into fits of laughter. Ron, beet red turned to them, "You did this? What did Fred and George give you?"  
  
Fred and George stopped laughing, but a giggle escaped every now and then, "We didn't," Fred sniggered, "give her anything!"  
  
"We swear it."  
  
"Yeah right."  
  
Fred's eyes narrowed, "Hey, we may run and hide."  
  
George continued, ".But we never tell a lie."  
  
"That's us in a nutshell." They chorused together.  
  
Percy snorted, "You certainly have a few ways of selectively telling the truth."  
  
Sirius grinned from beside Harry, "As much as this reminds me of school days with James and Remus, it seems Molly has prepared a wonderful breakfast, and I would very much like to enjoy it."  
  
"Hear, hear!" The twins cried.  
  
Harry grinned and felt a true sense of joy. It was good to be home. 


	5. Ruby's Reason's Revealed

A.N.: Hey! Is anybody out there? I've gotten some reviews, and I'm eternally grateful for them, but no one except for Kat Morning, my oh-so- excellent beta reader, has spotted the little references to Star Wars/Anime in my last chapter! So, I'm sad to say my offer is closed, but I'll still drop the references and will mention you in the A.N. after the chapter, but that's all. Sorry. Anyhoo, I will continue this fic, because the show must go on.er...fic.or something . *coughs* . er . good reading.  
  
**********  
  
"Checkmate. I'm tellin' ya Harry, there is no way you'll ever beat me. That's what, the fifth time tonight?"  
  
Ginny looked up from the comic book she was reading. "The fourth, you also had one stalemate." She then went back to her comics, muttering something about a spiky haired guy in spandex.  
  
Harry grinned in her direction, then yawned, feeling as if it might dislocate his jaw if it went on any longer. "I'm off to bed, I'm dead tired."  
  
Ron spoke up while putting his wizarding chess set away, "'Night mate, I'm gonna stay up a bit longer and sort out my Chocolate Frog cards and take care of some things."  
  
Ginny muttered over her comic, "Would those 'things' have to do with writing a letter to Hermione?" She giggled and turned the page, never looking up.  
  
Harry chuckled a bit, "G'night, Ron, Gin. I'll see you in the morning," he yawned, "if I ever wake up."  
  
With dual "Goodnight!"'s following, he slowly climbed the stairs, stopping every so often to let loose another face splitting yawn. He opened the door to Ron's outragesouly orange room and barely managed to get out of his shirt and pants and into his pajamas before he fell asleep. As he slept he dreamed, and he dreamed of terrifying things. *~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~* Harry was standing outside of a white house on a hill. Looking around he saw a lot of stones around him, all the same, arching shape. As he bent to inspect one near him, he failed to notice the darkening sky and wind picking up. He brushed the grass away from the rock and fell away in fear. There were two words written on the stone:  
  
Cedric Diggory  
  
A cruel, inhumane laugh sounded behind him, cutting through his thoughts. Spinning about he came face to serpentine face with He-Who-Must- Not-Be-Named himself, Voldemort. Gasping, his hand flew to his pocket for his wand, only to find it missing. Laughter surrounded him and he saw a ring of Death Eaters appear.  
  
One, with a silver arm, held Harry's wand out to him, grinning behind his mask. When Harry lunged for it, Wormtail smashed it into powder, laughing as he did so.  
  
"Harry Potter. The Boy Who Lived. Well, my faithful Death Eaters, should we correct this mistake?" Mocking laughter answered the high pitched voice. A shout rang out from the source of the voice, and Harry spun to face it.  
  
"Avada Kedavra!" The green light shot towards Harry, and he raised his hands in a futile attempt to block his summons from Death. But, just as the blast was about to strike him, a wall of fire leapt up around him, shielding him and comforting him with its warmth. Voldemort and his followers became nothing more than shadows in its glare and slowly they faded away in its brilliant glare.  
  
Looking around Harry found himself in a cave. The walls glistened in the light of the firewall around him. He was back in the cave where he had received the Ruby of the Phoenix. The fire jumped up from the ground and converged behind him. Spinning around, he met the Guardian of the Fire.  
  
"Where am I?" Harry said, looking around in confusion.  
  
You're here, where else?  
  
Harry gave the fire griffin a look. "Why am I here, where ever here is?"  
  
You are here to unlock your true powers as the Bearer of the Fire of the Phoenix.  
  
"What do you mean?" Harry scratched his head in confusion. "What is the Fire of the Phoenix? I thought you gave me the Ruby of the Phoenix?"  
  
Long ago there was only one phoenix, the Phoenix Lord. It ruled over the four beasts of power, the Raven, the Serpent, the Griffin, and the Badger. As the Guardian wove its tale, images appeared in Harry's mind. One day though, humans, what you call Muggles, began to fear the Phoenix Lord, for it was powerful, and did not hesitate to use the power it wielded when necessary. The Magi, ancestors to you wizards, tried to stop them, but were too few in number. The Phoenix Lord was mortally wounded. It died in the manor of phoenixes you know, bursting into flame. But instead of rising as one phoenix, it rose as thousands. The Grand Phoenixes were the ancestors of the phoenixes that exist today. An image of Fawkes came to Harry. But those phoenixes were not the only legacy of the Phoenix Lord. For when it was wounded it bled, and the blood formed into the Ruby that is now in your possession. The Magi prophesized that one day their heir would claim the Ruby and bring balance back to the world. Merlin was the last of their kind, and when he died, he sent his powers out into the void beyond time, to await the Magi's heir. That scar you bear, Harry, is not a curse from Voldemort. It is a gift, from Merlin himself, which is why you sense the presence of Voldemort when he is near. It was your dormant powers alerting you. You are not The Boy Who Lived. You are the heir of Merlin, the heir of the Magi, the heir of the Phoenix Lord.  
  
Harry stood there in shock, thought reeling through his head. Old questions answered, new ones rising. "Why me?"  
  
You are pure of heart, pure of mind, and pure of spirit. The blood of Merlin was passed to you from your father, and his mother before him.  
  
"You said when I got the Ruby that it would show itself to those who must see it. Why was it shown to Ginny?"  
  
Harry wasn't sure, but he thought the Guardian smirked, it that was possible. Simple, it replied, she's the heir of Godric Gryffindor. In the Chamber of Secrets the sword of Gryffindor did not appear for you. It appeared to aid you in the defense of its master. She will aid you in times to come. Harry reeled. Ginny, little Virginia Weasly, was the heir of Gryffindor!  
  
I know you are confused, Harry. But now we must train you. To prepare you for the future.  
  
"We? Who's training me?"  
  
A strong voice came from behind Harry, "I am." Harry turned to meet a man dressed in shining armor, with a blood red cape coming from his shoulders. A smile split his rust colored beard and lit up his blue eyes. "Greeting, Lord Phoenix. I am Arthur, former king of England. I'm here to prepare you for battles to come."  
  
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*  
  
Ron's eyes opened slowly, adjusting to the atomic orange glow that was his room in the morning. Stretching he turned to Harry, "Have a good sleep mate?" Harry gave no response. "Harry? Huh," Ron yawned, "guess he's still asleep." With that he got up and walked down stairs to breakfast. Smelling something delicious, he stumbled into the kitchen, only to see Ginny, Percy, and Sirius at the table. "Where're Gred and Forge?" He muttered sleepily while looking around for hidden surprises.  
  
"Mum stepped on one of their fake wands this morning, so she locked them in the shed." Ginny answered.  
  
Ron looked puzzled, "Why didn't she send them to their room?"  
  
Percy gave Ron a look, "That's where they hide their things."  
  
"Huh?"  
  
Sirius rolled his eyes at Ron, "If Molly had sent them there they'd just work on their pranks all day, so she locked them in the shed."  
  
"Oh."  
  
Mrs. Weasly turned from the stove as Ron sat down. "Ron, dear, where's Harry?"  
  
Ron scooped some food on to his plate and answered around a mouthful of toast, "He's having a bit of a lie in. He was out cold when I woke up. Do you want me to go get him?" "No that's okay. Let him rest. I'll make him something later."  
  
Breakfast was finished with Sirius reliving some of the pranks the Marauders had played in their school days, to the amusement of Ron and Ginny and to the horror of Percy and the hidden amusement of Mrs. Weasly.  
  
Ron stood up, laughing at the idea of Snape spouting off phrases like, "Size matters not." Stretching he commented, "Harry had better be up, it's almost ten, and I want a game of Quidditch before lunch."  
  
Walking into his room he saw Harry in the same place as before. Rolling his eyes he walked over and shook him, "Wake up Harry." He didn't stir. Ron shook him harder, and spoke louder, "Come on, Harry, get up!" Harry didn't respond at all, and Ron began to get worried. Shaking him roughly he shouted, "Wake up Harry! This isn't funny! Wake UP!"  
  
Ginny appeared in his doorway. "What's wrong?"  
  
Ron turned to her, worry etched in his face. "Harry's not waking up."  
  
**********  
  
A.N.: Another chapter done and a cliffhanger to boot! I'm evil! I just wanna say that, in the future, you should look here for your name after you review. For now this is all I got:  
  
Kat Morning- You've been a great help so far and I hope you'll continue being a great help. You're also the only person to find my hidden references.  
  
P.S.: There is one Star Wars reference in this chapter and one Gundam Wing reference. I made them easy ones for you to find, this time. 


	6. A Visit From Dumbledore

A.N.: I finally figured out how to make this chapter work! Unfortunately, Writer's Block, like Voldemort, just won't stay dead and I expect it will rear its ugly head sooner or later. Oh! One more thing! Thanks go out to Prism and Wincesrn, the only two reviewers up to this point (aside from Kat) who have found the references! Kudos to you!  
  
A.N. 2: Here are the references from previous chapters:  
  
Ch. 1-3: None  
  
Ch. 4:  
  
1) He pointed the "Love Rocket #9" at Ron's back, Locked on to the target. --Heero Yuy, Gundam Wing, often says, "Locked on to the target," when he's about to blow something up.  
  
2) Turning to Ginny he threw a quick salute. "Mission, Accomplished." - Again, from Heero Yuy.  
  
3) Fred's eyes narrowed, "Hey, we may run and hide."  
  
George continued, ".But we never tell a lie."  
  
"That's us in a nutshell." They chorused together. - This was modified from Duo Maxwell, Gundam Wing (can you people tell I like Gundam Wing?)  
  
Ch. 5  
  
She then went back to her comics, muttering something about a spiky haired guy in spandex. - This was a reference to Heero Yuy, in Gundam Wing, but some people also though it was a Vegeta, Dragonball Z.  
  
Ron stood up, laughing at the idea of Snape spouting off phrases like, "Size matters not." - Ashamed of you people I am, said this, the great Jedi Master Yoda did.  
  
~*~*~*~*~*~*~  
  
Harry did not wake up that day. Nor did he stir the next. By the end of the week Hermione had Flooed over as fast as possible when Ron had owled her of Harry's condition. They also sent Hermes with a letter to Dumbledore, but they hadn't heard back from him yet. Sirius, much to Percy's annoyance, stayed with Harry, usually in his dog from, most of the day, leaving only for food and other necessities. The twins, normally a jovial pair, were depressed. Even Headwig was sad, perched on the headboard above Harry, hooting mournfully.  
  
Not to mention Ginny. She had become listless, haunting Harry's bed even more so than Sirius. She had cried for the first few days, then the sad look in her eyes was replaced by a hollow, lonely look. It had been two weeks since Harry had shown up, and it was one of those days when Ginny and Sirius were in the room with Harry that something happened.  
  
They were sitting on opposite sides of the bed, each holding one of Harry's hands, when he blurred in the bed. There was really no other way to describe it. One moment, he had been lying there, the next he appeared as if he was out of focus, there was a slight ripping sound, and then it was over. Sirius and Ginny looked at each other, then back at Harry, quickly taking in the changes.  
  
His lanky body had grown longer, somehow, and was a bit broader in the shoulders too. Where he had once had rather skinny arms were well-toned muscles. His hair was a bit longer and scruffier, giving it an unkempt spikiness. The ripping sound, Sirius discovered, was the legs of Harry's pajamas ripping where well formed calf muscles had burst through the seams.  
  
As soon as they were done checking Harry over, Ginny ran downstairs to get Mrs. Weasley. When she entered the room, she gasped at Harry's new appearance, then ran downstairs to the fireplace. Throwing some Floo powder in she called out, "Hogsmeade, The Three Broomsticks!"  
  
Ron and Hermione, who had rushed to Harry's side at the first sign of news, waited for Mrs. Weasley to return. With baited breath they listened to Sirius recount what happened, and looked anxiously at Harry, hoping he'd wake up. When nothing happened, Hermione's eye's filled with tears, and she buried her face in Ron's shoulder, feeling depressed that, for once, she didn't have the answers and it was important that she did, for Harry's sake. Ginny just gripped Harry's hand tightly, hoping he'd wake up soon.  
  
A while later, Molly returned, with both Professor Dumbledore and Madam Pomfrey in tow. When the school nurse saw Harry she immediately forced everybody out of the room and began a thorough check-up on him, using both Magical and Muggle techniques.  
  
~*~*~*~*~  
  
Half an hour later, Madam Pomfrey came out of the room, and went straight to Dumbledore, who was sitting at the kitchen table with Sirius and Mrs. Weasley. Quickly whispering in his ear, she reported her findings to the Headmaster. Glancing at her, he muttered, "Curious," and went to check on Harry himself. Quickly, he closed the doors, and when Fred and George tried to use one of their inventions to hear what was going on inside, they yelled and jumped away, rubbing their ears in an effort to get rid of the ringing in them.  
  
The Weasleys, Sirius, and Madam Pomfrey waited outside Ron's room anxiously, hoping that the greatest wizard of their century would be able to wake Harry up. When the door opened, they all looked to Dumbledore, hoping for answers. He just looked at them and shook his head. They followed him to the kitchen, trying to get some answers out of him. It was Madam Pomfrey that answered.  
  
"I gave Mr. Potter a thorough physical, using every method I knew. Except for the fact that his body has matured in a matter of seconds, there is nothing wrong with him. He's in perfect physical health, he's not even showing signs of malnutrition or dehydration, even though he's been unconscious for two weeks. I just can't explain it."  
  
"I," Dumbledore spoke up, "found one thing that Poppy did not." Everybody turned to the aged Headmaster, hanging on every word. "When I went in I did a check of Harry's more.magical.properties. I don't suppose any of you have heard of the Auroras spell?"  
  
Unsurprisingly, Hermione had. "It's a spell that allows the caster to view the magical aura of another person. Every aura is different from person to person." She looked to Dumbledore, silently asking if she was right.  
  
Dumbledore nodded, "You are correct, Miss Granger. I performed this charm on Harry when he was a baby, and his aura was red and green, which gave me the suspicion of a transfer of powers from Voldemort," everybody except Ginny, Hermione, and Sirius flinched, "when the Killing Curse backfired."  
  
Mrs. Weasley spoke up, "What did you find this time?"  
  
"His aura was gold this time, pure gold. And it was powerful, much more powerful than before. But it didn't seem changed. It was as if was complete somehow. For the life of me, I can't figure it out. Although, if I'm reading the signs right, he should be recovering soon."  
  
As everyone began to discuss the possibilities of what this meant, Ginny slipped off, unnoticed. Retreating to Ron's room, she took her place again at Harry's side, holding his hand. But the lost look in her eyes was gone, instead they were filled with hope.  
  
"Hurry back, Harry," she whispered, "we all miss you."  
  
~*~*~*~*~  
  
"Very good Harry. You've improved greatly since the Guardian brought you here."  
  
"Yes, both your physical and magical abilities have improved."  
  
Harry Potter relaxed his quarterstaff from the guard position, and leaned his weight on it. "Only thanks to you, King Arthur and Princess Garnet."  
  
The princess rolled her chocolate brown eyes, "How many times do I have to tell you, call me Dagger! I've had my own fair share of megalomaniacal terrors, trust me. After what I went through with Kuja, I don't feel much like a princess."  
  
Harry blushed under her reprimand. "I know, but you're royalty. I should address you by your titles."  
  
Arthur Pendragon chuckled, "Well, in that case we should call you Lord Phoenix. But we both know you'd object to that title."  
  
As humorous as this exchange is, the Guardian "spoke" up, it is time for the Lord Phoenix to return to his realm.  
  
Harry turned back to his two teachers. "Thank you for teaching me what you know. I know I'll need it soon."  
  
King Arthur bowed at the waist, "It was an honor, Lord Phoenix. Be safe in your travels."  
  
Dagger did a small curtsey in her orange jumper, holding the edge of an imaginary dress. "Take care, Harry. And don't forget what we taught you."  
  
Harry smiled, despite the use of his proper title. "I won't especially what you taught me Prin.Dagger."  
  
She nodded, "Being able to summon the Guardian to your realm will help you, even though it is taxing on your magical reserves."  
  
Harry grinned, "That's not what I was talking about. I was thanking you for the dancing lessons."  
  
The Guardian laughed, It's time to go.  
  
With that Harry's vision faded, the chamber of gems disappearing.  
  
~*~*~*~*~  
  
A.N.: That's it for now! There's one Final Fantasy reference in here, can any of you spot it? 


	7. Time to Wake Up

A.N.: First off, to my faithful reviewers and non-reviewers at Fanfiction.net, I'm sorry about the quality of the fic. Apparently, it doesn't like my Italics, ellipsis points, and other writing tools, so if you want to read this in a better format, check me out at Gryffindortower.net. But don't worry, I'll still post here at Fanfiction.net! 

A.N. 2- The Final Fantasy reference in the last chapter was Dagger, or Princess Garnet, who I took straight from Final Fantasy IX. These are the reviews who spotted her:

Wind

Mxpx_xl (I can't hope to pronounce your name!)

Shdurrani

Keeper of the Dark Orb

Note to Keeper of the Dark Orb: I'm perfectly willing to help with your fic, just send me any questions you have, Gundam Wing or Battletech. I own all the Gundam Wing DVD's and I have a very, very good source of information on Battletech in the form of one of my friends. Oh, and Pendragon is not a reference to The Wheel of Time. It is King Arthur's real title. If it had been a reference to The Wheel of Time the name would've been _Artur Pendrag_. I hope that clears things up for you.

Now on with the story!

*~*~*~*~*~*

As Harry slowly drifted back to consciousness he became aware of an odd weight on his chest. It wasn't at all unpleasant, because it _smelled_, well, nice. As he became more and more awake he also felt something soft squeezing his right hand. Slowly opening his eyes, he took in the atomic orange of sun reflecting off the walls and ceiling of Ron's room. After his eyes adjusted he looked down at what was putting pressure on his chest.

He jumped a bit when he realized that the weight it was Ginny's head on his chest. Apparently, she had fallen asleep while holding his hand. He shifted a bit, trying to get up with out moving her, which proved to be a futile effort as she also began to stir.

Ginny's eyes slowly fluttered open, then closed in a wince at the pain in her neck, stiff from sleeping in an awkward position. Then her eyes snapped open when she realized that there was a pair of sparkling green eyes watching her.

"Harry!" she gasped, "You're awake!" With that she flung herself at him, wrapping her arms around her neck. "We were so worried about you! Don't do that again, I was so worried about you."

Harry, surprised by her reaction, wrapped his arms around her as well, whispering reassurances to her. "I'm okay, Gin, I'm okay." He put his arms on her shoulders and pushed her back a bit. "I promise," he smirked, "to tell you next time I plan on falling asleep."

She pulled back and slapped him lightly on the arm. "Harry, I'm serious."

"No," a twinkle appeared in Harry's eyes, "you're Ginny, my godfather is Sirius."

Ginny rolled her eyes, "You really are like your father."

Harry blinked. "How do you know that?"

"Sirius has been telling us stories of the Marauder days, trying to cheer us up. Fred and George actually brought quills and parchment when he started telling the stories."

Remembrance flashed across Harry's face. "Has Wormtail been caught yet?"

"No," Ginny sighed, "no one's see hide nor hair of him for weeks."

Harry cursed under his breath. "Oh well." He muttered, "at least I can go down stairs and see Sirius." With that decided, he stood up and stretched, reaching for the ceiling. He brought his arms down with a satisfied grunt and looked to Ginny, who looked like she was trying to impersonate a tomato. "Something wrong, Gin?"  


Her cheeks reddened even further. "It's just that…well, you see…your clothes…um…" Unable to form anymore coherent words, she settled with pointing, and openly staring at Harry. When he looked down, he blushed as well. He was wearing his old clothes that, while baggy before, were now hanging in shreds around his body. Nothing…risqué…was showing, but everything from the waist up and thighs down was exposed for all the world, and females, to see in their muscular glory.

"Um, Gin, could you turn around for a minute?" 

Nodding her head, she turned around, a glazed look in her eyes. She heard the sound of a trunk being hastily opened, searched through, and closed, then there was a tearing sound. She was dearly tempted to turn around when she heard Harry change clothes, but strained not to. Finally, she heard him clear his throat, "You can turn around Gin."

She turned around, and still stared, just not as intensely as before. Now he had an old black tee shirt on, but it was tight over his chest, and showed just how big he had gotten. He had taken a pair of jeans, torn the bottom half off, and made an impromptu pair of shorts out of them. He had to go barefoot because his old pair of trainers wouldn't fit his feet at all.

Harry coughed again. "Let's go down stairs, shall we?"

Ginny shook herself out of her muscle-induced trance, "Er…yeah."

They left Ron's room and walked down stairs, lost in their own thoughts. As they passed the twins room there was a muffled thud from one of their projects that shook them out of their thoughts. The looked at the door, then at each other, then back at the door. "I don't want to know," they said in unison. Grinning, they finished their descent of the stairs in a more jovial mood. 

As they reached the kitchen Ginny called ahead, "Hey everybody! Harry's awake!"

They entered the kitchen to find everybody staring at them, or, more specifically, Harry's new appearance. Mrs. Weasley, Hermione, and Madam Pomfrey all blinked, rubbed their eyes, and blinked again. Ron, Percy, the twins, and Sirius's jaw succumbed to gravity and fell towards the floor. Dumbledore, interestingly enough, just smiled his odd little smile and greeted Harry. "Ah, Harry, so good of you to join us. How are you feeling?"

Trying to ignore the looks he was getting, Harry answered the Headmaster. "Fine, thank you. May I ask why you're here?"

"You may."

"Why are you here?"

Dumbledore's smile got bigger, and he answered. "A few weeks ago, Molly here came running into my office at Hogwarts, yelling for my help. After I convinced her to calm down, she explained to me what happened, and I came here with Poppy to see what could be done to help you. I suspect Hermione is here because Ron owled her as soon as he could."

Mrs. Weasley, being the first to recover, rushed over to Harry and ensnared him in one of her bone-crushing hugs. She was quickly followed when Hermione, Sirius, and the rest of the Weasley clan present rushed him. Madam Pomfrey forced her way through the group, trying to get to Harry. "Could everybody please back away! I need to give Mr. Potter a quick checkup to make sure he's in good health."

With a quick Levitation charm, she moved everybody out of the way and did a quick magical checkup on Harry. When she was done she pronounced him physically and magically sound, then put the Weasley's, Sirius, and Hermione down. They surrounded Harry again, pelting him with questions. Dumbledore, seeing Harry's predicament, spoke up. "If you would give Harry some room, I'm sure he'll try to answer your questions."

Reluctantly, everybody sat down at the table again, except Sirius and Ginny, both of whom had been too slow in getting seats. Before they could start firing off questions, Harry spoke up.

"I'm okay everybody, really, I am."

One of the twins, possibly George, spoke up from the table, "What happened to you Harry? What's with the new look?"

"I don't know." Harry knew he was lying, but he couldn't tell everybody what was going on; not just yet. "Professor, do you know what happened?"

"As far as I can tell," Professor Dumbledore said, "Harry's body changed to accommodate his increased magical strength. It doesn't happen often, but it does happen. I do believe it happened to my father's brother's cousin's nephew's friend's former roommate." 

A confused look crossed Percy's face, "What's that make you?"

Dumbledore shrugged, "Absolutely nothing. Now, Molly, since Harry seems to have recovered, I believe Poppy and I must get back to Hogwarts. We have a lot of planning to do. Harry, Ron, Hermione, Virginia, Fred, George, I'll see you at the beginning of the school year. Good day." With that, he and Madam Pomfrey walked out of the Burrow to the point where the anti-Apparation wards stopped, and Apparated away.

As soon as Dumbledore had disappeared, Harry's body remembered it hadn't eaten a real meal in two weeks. It also let everybody know this in the form of a loud rumbling. Bashfully looking at his stomach, Harry asked Mrs. Weasley, "When's lunch?" 

Mrs. Weasley laughed, "Sorry Harry, dear. Lunch isn't for another hour and a half. I'll start cooking now, but you'll have to wait." 

Harry put on his best pouting face. "Pity," he sighed dramatically. "Oh well, come on Ron, let's go."

Ron blinked in confusion, "Go where?"

"The paddock, I want to play Quidditch. Any one else want to come?" He made his way to the door, grabbing his Firebolt from the rack by the door. Not waiting for a response he went out the door.

Ron scrambled after Harry, grabbing his Cleansweep 70. He was quickly followed by Ginny and the twins, also grabbing brooms from the rack, and Hermione, who was rolling her eyes and smiling at their antics. Sirius got up from the table and walked over to the rack, inspecting the brooms. Then Percy spoke up. "Just what do you think your doing?"

Sirius rolled his eyes, "I'm going to go play Quidditch with my godson, if you don't mind."

"I don't think so," Percy retorted in what the twins call his 'Prefect Voice'. "You may fly away, or try and put Harry in danger. You're grounded."

Mrs. Weasley spoke up from the stove, "Let Sirius play with his godson Percy, and I don't want to hear you say , 'You're grounded,' until you have children."

"Yes, mum," Percy sighed.

********

"Ginny, catch!" Harry passed the muggle rugby ball, their impromptu Quaffle, to Ginny, and swooped around her, distracting Ron. She threw it at him, but he easily caught it and passed it to one of the twins, who shot down the field towards Sirius and the other goal.

What Fred failed to notice, though, was Harry dive-bombing him. He flashed past Fred and ripped the ball from his hands. He then shot down the field, feinted throwing it at Ron, and passed it to Ginny, who managed to slip it past his defense. 

Harry brought his broom to a hover and called out, "Anybody know what time it is?"

Sirius laughed, "It's about time to eat, Harry, come on, let's go in. I'm sure Molly has made a small feast for you." With that he dismounted and started back towards the Burrow. Percy, ever the Ministry lackey, was right behind him, one hand poised to grab his wand.

Harry rolled his eyes at Percy, and descended to the ground himself. He caught up to Ron and Ginny, who had landed before him. "Ron, you should try out for Keeper this year; you're pretty good. With some more practice, you'd be better than Wood in no time!"

"I was planning on trying out. Gin's been helping me train."

Harry turned to Ginny, "You have?"

Ginny smiled smugly, "I'm going to try out for Chaser next year. We've kind of been helping each other train."

Harry put an arm around each of their shoulders. "Good. We can't lose if there's always two Weasleys on the team."

~*~*~*~*~

A.N.: Ahhh, the end of another chapter. Feels good doesn't it? Anyhoo, there's one Mel Brooks reference in this chapter. I'd be more specific, but it's already pretty obvious. I hope you can find it, and review! 


	8. Surprising Revelation

AN: The God of Death is back from Hell! The Hell of Writer's Block! Here's a fresh chapter, but first things first: Those who caught the Mel Brook's reference in the last chapter. These readers are true Space Balls:

SailorGurl

****

pragmatist

Deathevn

Lone Wolf

And my first repeat reviewer: **mxpx_xl**

For your reward you get…a warm fuzzy feeling and gloating rights! If you don't feel the warm fuzzy feeling now, please chug the nearest Butterbear ^_^

Now forward, to victory…or the fic, whichever happens first.

*~*~*~*~*~*~*

Harry awoke to the atomic furnace glow of Ron's room at sunrise. Being Dursley "trained", Harry was used to waking early. It tended to be the only time he got to shower without Dudley flushing the toilet and sending a torrent of ice water out of the showerhead. Of course, that wasn't a problem at the Burrow. And he really didn't mind waiting his turn for the shower; there was always enough hot water, as long as he didn't annoy the showerhead. If he did that, it made Dudley's ice water seem like a tropical lagoon.

On this particular morning, however, Harry decided to forgo the shower and went out back and decided to run through some katas he'd learned while he was with King Arthur and Dagger in that crystal cavern. Apparently, Arthur had some contacts in Otherworld, and was able to get a few other trainers. One of Harry's favorites was a man named Himura Kenshin. His fiery hair and cross-shaped scar belied his gentle nature, which in turn belied his mastery of the Hitiran Mitsarugi style of sword-fighting. While he was nowhere near as skilled as Kenshin had been, he was still pretty good in his own right. This morning Harry was running through exercises that focused on balance.

Surprisingly, they not only helped his balance in a sword fights or fist fights, but also in Wizarding Duels.

He flowed from one form to another, focused on everything and nothing at the same time. As his exercises came to a close he became aware of his surroundings again. Wiping the sweat from his brow, Harry ran a hand through his still-messy hair, it seemed even the most disciplined of martial arts couldn't tame the slightly longer locks. Shaking his head ruefully, he looked up in time to spot a bright orange speck in the sky. He grinned when he heard the musical trilling, but couldn't help but wonder why Dumbledore had sent Fawkes to him.

Harry held out his and Fakes landed on it, singing quite happily. "Hullo to you too, Fawkes. What are you doing here?"

In response the Phoenix held out his left leg. A note was attached to it. He untied the string holding the parchment down and checked it. It was sealed with white wax that had the image of a bumblebee on it. Recognizing Dumbledore's personal seal he quickly opened the letter and read it.

__

Dear Harry,

I hope this hasn't been too surprising for you. When I got back to school after making sure you were okay I kept having this feeling I should do something. As it often happens with these feelings, I had no clue what to do. I spent quite some time with my Pensieve, and it kept going back to the Chamber of Secrets incident. _ Actually, it kept going back to the point when you told me about Fawkes showing up with the Sorting Hat in the Chamber. So I decided to send this particular item to you. I suppose you do own the right to it anyway. Just tap this spot here * and say, "Canary Cream". Think of this as an early birthday present._

Albus Dumbledore

"What have you got there, Harry?" Harry turned to greet Ginny, who was just finishing up her morning run. Being the only early risers in the Burrow, even earlier than Hermione, they often spent the mornings talking until everybody else woke up. 

"I'm not sure." Harry gestured to Fawkes who had moved up to his shoulder. "He showed up this morning with this letter. I don't know what to make of it." 

"Let me see." Ginny took the parchment and read it over. "I don't get it. Is he giving you the Sorting Hat?" She gave the letter back.

"I don't know, let's find out." He tapped the spot on the parchment. "Canary Cream." There was a bright flash and the parchment disappeared. In its place was a sheathed sword. 

"Harry is that…?"

Harry unsheathed the sword. It flashed silver in the early morning sun, and the rubies in the hilt burned red. "Merlin's beard! The old nutter sent me Gryffindor's sword!" He swung the sword through the air, taking this chance appreciate its balance and speed. He then re-sheathed it and presented it to Ginny.

Her eyes got wider. "Harry, what are you doing?"

"I can't explain now, Gin, but this sword rightfully belongs to you. When we go to Diagon Alley later come with me to my Gringott's vault. I'll explain there. In the mean time, I'd keep that hidden in your trunk." Harry laced his fingers behind his head and started walking to the Burrow, Fawkes still perched on his shoulder. At the doorway he paused. "Hurry up, Gin, or I'm getting the shower first."

Ginny shook herself out of her daze, "Huh? Hey! Wait up! You better tell me what's going on! First that ruby, then you fall in a coma, now this! And you better not annoy that shower, or I'll use this sword on you!"

^_^_^_^_^_^_^_^_^_^_^

After the chaotic organization that describes every morning at the Burrow settled down, the group Flooed over to Diagon Alley for their school supplies. Harry, for once, managed a fairly pleasant trip. The same could not be said of Ron and Hermione's trip. The problem stemmed from the fact that the Weasleys were running low on Floo Powder, and the trip had to be made in pairs. And Harry, being the Marauder at heart that he is, volunteered to Floo with Ginny, who also caught on to his little scheme. Fred and George had demonstrated the "proper" way of Flooing in pairs by throwing their arms around each other's shoulders, for, "Proper balance and speed," and then Flooing in typical style.

Harry and Ginny had come out at the Leaky Cauldron none the worse for wear, only with a bit of soot on them. But when Ron and Hermione had shown up, red eared and faced, respectively, Ron had managed to trip on the hearthrug at the base of the fireplace. The result had been Hermione straddling Ron, who twisted to land face up in an attempt to steady himself and Hermione. The only way to get Fred and George to shut up was for Mrs. Weasley to force them to eat one of their own prank food items, Lockjaw Lollipops, guaranteed to shut someone up for at least ten minutes.

"Harry, Hermione, why don't you give me your school lists and money and I'll buy your books for you. That way you kids can get your other things and look at some other stores. Thank you," she said as Harry and Hermione handed over their things, "Now, where would you be off to."

Harry made a quick check of his money pouch. "I need to stop at Gringott's, then Madam Malkin's, I need new robes badly. Then I was thinking of stopping at Ollivander's."

"Why do you want to go there? Wand trouble?" Ron asked.

"No, I have some things I need to ask him about." Harry pulled his wand out. "Something…odd…happened at the …During the Tournament. I want to know what really happened with it. Dumbledore said some things, but…" Harry shrugged, unable to form any words.

Everybody was silent, not wanting to speak. Hesitantly, Ginny cleared her throat, "I need to go to Gringott's also. And I need new dress robes also."

The twins spoke up, "Let us take care of that. New dress robes for our little Ronnikins and Ginnikins."

Ron eyes narrowed, "Why exactly are you doing this?"

"You see, dear brother," George explained, "we have a backer for Wheezes. Therefore, we have some extra cash. And we don't want poor Hermione embarrassed by your frilly robes if there are any dances this year." Hermione's and Ron's faces darkened under the last comment. "Don't worry, Harry, we'll pick up your new robes too."

"Behave," Mrs. Weasley rebuked the twins. "Ron, Hermione, where are you off to?"

They looked at each other and quickly looked away. "We'll…er…go to, uh…" Ron stuttered.

"The Apothecary! Apothecary We need more potions supplies!" Hermione answered quickly.

Mrs. Weasley smiled, "Okay. Let's meet for ice cream at four, then we'll go home." She turned George and Fred, "You two are staying with me."

With that the group split up and headed off to their respective destinations. Harry and Ginny walked down the main street, headed for Gringott's Wizarding Bank. As they walked they talked of trivial matters, the upcoming school term, and Ron and Hermione's growing affection for each other that everybody saw, except them, of course.

But anybody who knew Harry or Ginny would've felt the air of tenseness between them. Ginny kept throwing questioning looks at Harry, and he had certain stiffness to his walk. Silently, they entered the bank, and rode the roller coaster-like ride to the Weasley vault, where Ginny grabbed some coins from her stack, then they went to Harry's vault.

After telling the goblin that he would signal for a cart when he wanted to leave, he and Ginny went into the Potter vault. Ginny's eyes widened a bit when she saw how much Harry had. Shaking her head she turned to Harry and demanded he start talking.

Harry brushed some coins aside and sat down. After a moment Ginny did too. 

"You want to know everything?" Ginny nodded. "Well, it started when I Portkeyed to your house. I showed up in this weird cavern made out of crystals…"

*~*~*~*~*~*~*

"…Then Fawkes showed up with the sword." Harry took a deep breath. Story telling was harder than he thought, and his throat was parched. He looked up at Ginny. She was a little pale, and shaking a bit. "Gin? You okay?"

She looked up and smiled weakly, "Yeah, I'm fine. It's just that you don't find out you're the heir of one of the most powerful wizards ever. Not to mention that one of your friends is the most powerful wizard of all time. I'd like to think I'm coping pretty well with it all." Her eyes rolled up into her head and she passed out.

Harry quickly grabbed her arms to stop her from falling over. A smile touched his lips. "How am I going to explain this? Oh well, I guess I can see Ollivander some other time."

  
A.N.: Whew! Almost twice the usual length! Okay, here are the hints for the references in this chapter. There are two, one is blatantly obvious and the other is small. But they're close to each other. Good hunting!

A.N.2: Have I mentioned my beta reader Kat Morning? I just want to say right now she's 'Bloody brilliant!' I must say that someone up there was looking out for me when I got a beta reader fluently versed in Anime ^_^ She's been a great help so far, and I'm certain she will be until the day I stop writing fan fiction.


	9. Ollivander's Shop, SURPRISE!

A.N.: Well, it's that time again. Yup, it's time for another chapter of _Harry Potter and the Ruby of the Phoenix. _Now, this is kinda sad, but only one person spotted one of the two references in the last chapter. Kenshin Himura was a reference to Rurouni Kenshin, one of my favorite animes. The other one was where Arthur got Kenshin. The place, Otherworld, is a reference to Dragon Ball Z. I'll admit I've only watched the dubbed, _edited_ version, but most people have. The one person was:

****

brion

Oh well, on to the fic!

*~*~*~*~*~*

Ginny stepped out of the fireplace at the Leaky Cauldron and moved out of the way, brushing the soot off her robes as she did so. She then stretched out her arms and caught Harry as he came flying out of the fireplace after her. Blushing slightly, he stood up and brushed the soot from his robes as well.

"Thanks, Gin. I don't think I'll ever get used to that." Giving his robes one final pat he started off towards the back door of the pub. They stepped out into the back alley and Harry tapped the bricks of the back wall in a clockwise motion, and let them into Diagon Alley. 

Harry couldn't help but grin at the sight of the bustling wizard community before him. It reminded him of the first time he came here, rescued from the Dursley's by Hagrid. As they walked down the main street he couldn't help but glance at the working model of the solar system for sale, albeit cheaper than the first time he saw it. He would've bought it, but they weren't allowed to use models like that for Astronomy or Divination. 

As they walked down the street, Harry mentioned the ease with which they'd left the Burrow. Ginny just smiled nervously and said something about Mrs. Weasley wanting to do cleaning and Hermione forcing Ron into homework. Then she switched topics. "Harry, why exactly do you need to see Ollivander?"

"Well," he explained, "Voldemort's wand and mine are brother wands. When we dueled they couldn't work against each other, they…linked up, or something. I need to find out if I can counter that or use magic in a different way if I'm going to go up against him someday." Harry looked up. "We're here." 

Ginny turned from him and looked up. They were standing outside a window, which looked into a room with small boxes lining the walls. Her hand went to her own wand as she remembered the day she got her wand. Then she looked at the door. "Oh no! The shop is still closed. We'll have to come back later."

Harry stepped up to the door and knocked loudly on it. "Mr. Ollivander? Are you there? It's Harry Potter and I have to speak with you, it's very important!" He tried to peer in the glass, but couldn't make out and details. After a few minutes he shook his head and turned to walk away.

A lock clicked behind him. "Ah, Mr. Potter, so good to see you again." Tom Ollivander stood in the door way, eyes shining in a way similar to Albus Dumbledore's, "And Miss Weasley too. Do come in, I was expecting you to show up soon, Mr. Potter." He turned and walked back into his store. Harry and Ginny exchanged a confused glance and followed him in.

"Now, Mr. Potter, what seems to be the problem?"

"It's my wand, sir." Harry pulled out his wand and handed to Ollivander's outstretched hand.

"Let me see," Ollivander muttered half to himself. "Supple body, eleven inches, holly, and phoenix feather core? Yes, yes, I remember this one. You were a tricky customer, Mr. Potter, almost as tricky as Miss Weasley here."

Harry's "Huh?" overlapped with Ginny's "Really?"

Ollivander chuckled, "Indeed. Oddly enough, she ended up with one of the wands you tried Mr. Potter." He turned to Ginny, "Beechwood and Dragon heartstring. Nine inches. Nice and flexible, correct?" She nodded.

"I remember that one!" Harry stated, "That was the very first wand I tried!"

"Indeed it was. In fact, it was Mr. Potter's father's as well." Harry stared at him in shock. "It was a tragedy when your parents died, Mr. Potter. But Albus came here the next day with their wands, and told me to see if another wizard or witch was meant for them. I'll admit it was an unusual request, one person's wand almost never works for another person, but they did."

"Who bought Harry's mum's wand?" Ginny asked.

Ollivander turned to her. "I'm sorry Miss Weasley, I don't give out information about my other clients, for their privacy's sake."

Ginny spluttered, "But you told Harry about my wand!" Harry quirked an eyebrow at her outburst. Ginny's cheeks reddened. "Er, no offense, Harry." He just grinned at her.

Ollivander smiled at Ginny. "But I wasn't telling him. I was informing you of the previous ownership of your wand, Miss Weasley." His smile was reminiscent of Dumbledore's. Ginny just dropped her head and sighed. The old man turned to Harry, giving him his wand back. "You wand is in excellent condition Mr. Potter."

"I know. I was hoping you could tell me about Brother Wand magic."

Ollivander shook his head. "I've never experienced the magic first hand. All I know is what I've been told by witnesses."

"What about other forms of magic, or of channeling magic?" Harry held his wand at eye level. "I can't fight Voldemort," Ollivander winced, "with this wand. I need another way."

The wand maker sized him up. "Normally, Mr. Potter, I wouldn't consider this. But the resurrection of He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named can hardly be considered normal. Please understand, the only other wizard I know who can use one of these is Albus Dumbledore."

Ginny's eyes narrowed in confusion. "One of what?"

Ollivander turned and walked to the back of the store. "A mage staff." He pulled out his own wand and began tapping portions of the way while saying some incantations.

Harry turned to Ginny. "What's a mage staff?"

"A mage staff," she explained, "is like…well…think of it as a big wand. Kind of like comparing a Muggle gun to a cannon. It takes an exceptional amount of power to use though, and is even more personalized than a wand is. Only a staff's owner can use it." She turned to Harry and lowered her voice, "But if anybody can use one, it's you, being…you know."

He nodded. He was the Phoenix Lord, the most powerful wielder of magic since Merlin, if not more powerful. If anybody could use a mage staff, it was him. Although, he was surprised to know Dumbledore had one as well. Suddenly there was a light _thud_ and a section of the wall opened up. Harry and Ginny followed the old wand maker in.

The room was full of wood. There were several miniature trees growing in pots near a window, and Harry realized they were magically shrunken trees. There were also long wooden poles stacked along a far wall. All of them were about the height of an average man and they were all different shapes and color, due to being made from different trees. But they looked _grown_. Some even looked as if they were made of vines. This is where Ollivander led them.

"Now, Mr. Potter, you're going to have to try these out, just like you tried out your wand." He picked up a dark brown staff. "This one is oak, with a core of diamond. Give it a twirl." 

Harry picked up the staff and spun it in his hands. Ollivander snatched it back. "That won't do, try this, Maple, with an emerald core. Good for defense." Harry picked it p only to have it pulled away. "No, no…ah! Try this! It's Holly, like your wand, but has a Dragon Diamond core. Excellent at deflecting blows."

"Dragon Diamond?" Harry asked. Surprisingly, it was Ginny who answered.

"A Dragon Diamond is a diamond that has formed in a dragon's fire sac. They're really rare, as the only time you can get it is when a dragon dies, and dragons have an incredibly long life span."

"How long?" Harry asked.

"About two thousand years."

Harry blinked in surprise. "Oh." He turned to Ollivander. "Do you happen to know what kind of dragon it came from?"

He smiled, "A Hungarian Horntail."

Harry smiled. "Figures." He picked up the wand. Golden beams of light shot out of the tip and bathed the room in a warm, sun like glow. "I think this is it."

Ollivander was beaming. "Indeed it is. Now, there is the matter of a focusing gem."

"But, I thought there was a Dragon Diamond in the core?" Harry inquired.

"Yes, there is," Ollivander answered, "But you need a gem or crystal of some sort at the top, or your spells will be out of control. I have some over here, although you'll have to hold each one until we find one acclimated to your magical signature."

"There's no need, I think I have one already." Harry reached for his pocket.

Ollivander blinked, "Really?"

In response, Harry pulled a bright red ruby out of his pocket.

"Harry," Ginny gasped, "is that…?"

"Yes," He answered, "It is." He held it out to Ollivander. "Will this do?" Ollivander gently plucked the gem from Harry's outstretched hand.

Holding it up to his eye he spun it in his fingers, examining every facet of the jewel. As it twirled it sparkled, spreading red highlights along the walls. With a nod Ollivander gave it back to Harry. "It just might do the trick, Mr. Potter. We just have to see if your staff will accept it. See that niche at the top? Yes, that's the one. Now insert the bottom of the ruby into it. If the staff accepts it, it will grow around the base of it, bonding the ruby to the staff."

Harry slid the ruby into the niche, as instructed. There was a stretching sound as the staff grew around the ruby. As the staff stopped growing the ruby glowed a brilliant red, and as the light faded the occupants of the room had to blink their eyes to remove the spots dancing in their vision. 

"Well, Mr. Potter, all seems to be in order. Come, we'll settle on a price out front, and you can be on your way." Ollivander led them out to the front of the shop, muttering words and waving his wand to close the second room and replace its wards.

*~*~*~*~*

Having completed his task, Harry began to walk back to the pub, in order to Floo back to the Burrow. Ginny threw a quick glance at her watch, shook her head and grabbed Harry by the arm.

"Where do you think you're going?"

Harry blinked. "Well, I thought we'd grab some Butterbeers and head back to the Burrow."

"Uh-uh." Ginny shook he head. "I never got to do any shopping here yesterday. I was unconscious, remember?"

Harry ducked his head. "Sorry 'bout that." 

She slapped his arm "You already apologized for that this morning! It's not your fault I fainted after I heard the news, you know. So stop trying to apologize for it." A grin lit up Ginny's face. "You know, I wouldn't be surprised if one day you started saying that, due to your lack of effort, there's no magic in Muggles."

"Hey!"

Ginny giggled. "Come on. You can buy me an ice cream and then we'll stroll around and look in a few shops. _Then_ we can go home."

~*~*~*~*~

Ginny stepped out of the fireplace at the Burrow and looked around. _Perfect_, she thought to herself, _not a soul in sight, everybody must be ready_. There was a whoosh and thud behind her as Harry came through the fireplace after her. 

"Ow! Hey Gin, I thought you'd be there for me!" He made a motion to push his glasses up his face, only to run a finger into his forehead, as he didn't need glasses anymore. Ginny laughed as he used his new staff to help him up. "That's weird," he said as he looked around and didn't see or hear anybody, "there's nobody here." He walked towards the back door, Ginny right behind him. 

Suddenly there was a bang and the door flew open. Harry slipped into a defensive stance, staff held ready to fend off any attack that would come his way. So he was surprised when red and gold streamers flew at his face and he heard a multitude of voices yelling, "SURPRISE!"

"Huh?"

Ginny came up beside him and gave him a kiss on his cheek. "Happy Birthday, Harry!" Harry looked at her, blinked, and looked out into the Weasley's back yard. A grin split his face and tears formed in his eyes as he saw the Weasleys, Sirius, Remus Lupin, and Dumbledore, with Fawkes singing on his shoulder, standing around the tables set up for the occasion.

Hermione came up and gave Harry a bone-crushing hug, quickly followed by Mrs. Weasley's hug, which left Harry blue in the face. Then the twins grabbed Harry's hands and proceeded to attempt dislocating Harry's shoulders by shaking his hands so hard. Percy and Ron managed to hold back their enthusiasm when they clapped Harry on the back, although Percy watched Sirius closely when he hugged Harry, and Dumbledore, Remus, Charlie, and Bill said congratulations from their seats. 

Harry swiped at his eyes. "I'd completely forgotten today was my birthday. You really shouldn't have gone through all this trouble for me." 

Ron put his hand on Harry's shoulder. "It was no problem, really. Mum loved the opportunity to bake a cake, and the twins jumped at the idea of a surprise party. Now, the real question, is do you want cake or present's first?" 

Harry grinned. "Cake, definitely. Eating your mum's cooking is present enough for me." 

Mrs. Weasley cheeks tinted pink, but she smiled and went in to get the cake. As Harry took a seat at the head of the table, at the insistence of the twins, he saw Ron pull a chair out for Hermione, then glance around before sitting next to her himself. Harry grinned at their antics. 

"Harry," Dumbledore asked, "where did you get that staff?"

Harry sobered up a bit, "At Ollivander's, sir. I thought I might need it for Vol…well, you know."

"Indeed." He pulled a lemon sherbet out of his pocket. "Let us not dwell on such things today. I'm afraid I'll have to give you your present and go though, I do have a lot of paper work to finish before term starts."

"But sir," Harry asked, confused, "I thought the…"

Dumbledore cut Harry off, "Now, Harry, one thing I've learned in life is to never turn down free gifts, especially birthday gifts. Your gift is Fawkes. After he came back to me at Hogwarts he seemed a little put out. He acted as though he missed something, or someone. When I asked him if he wanted to come back and stay with you he aroused quite a ruckus. In fact…" 

A loud hooting from behind Harry interrupted Dumbledore. Both Harry and Dumbledore turned to see Hedwig swoop down from the Burrow and alight on Harry's shoulder, where she hooted quite vigorously towards Fawkes, who, in turn, trilled back. Then they both flew up into the nearest tree and began hooting and trilling at each other, both of them perched quite close together. 

Dumbledore's mustache twitched violently. Harry's jaw dropped. "I believe, Harry, that we have found the, er, reason behind Fawkes restlessness." Dumbledore pulled a gold pocket watch from his robes. "Fawkes! I expect the best behavior on your part! Goodbye Harry, I'll see you at Hogwarts." With that he turned a dial on the top of the watch and with a _pop!_ he was gone.

Harry's subsequent spluttering was interrupted by the arrival of Mrs. Weasley with his birthday cake. After a rousing chorus of "Happy Birthday" ("And he smells like one too!" provided by Fred and George) everybody dove into the cake. Chatter flew around the table, with Remus, while tugging on his own shaggy and slightly longer than average locks, complimented Harry on his new look. The two Marauders howled with laughter when the twins successfully managed to turn Percy into a pink fuzzy bunny, and Ginny was quick to point out that Remus grinned wolfishly.

It was Hermione, level headedness incarnate, that suggested they all give Harry his presents now.

"Here you go, Harry," Percy stated, handing over a rectangular object, "I think this should be of some use to you." After Harry tore off the paper Hermione's eyes lit up and Ron groaned. It was _Hogwarts: A History-Platinum Edition_. Harry just grinned ruefully and set the book aside.

"This," Remus explained, "is from Padfoot and me." Harry received the present, which echoed the shape of Percy's gift. Eyeing it Harry pulled off the paper, and after he saw what it was preceded to hug both Sirius and Remus.

"Come on, Harry, tell us what it is."

Harry picked the book back up. "It's _The Marauder's Guide to Animagi Magic by: Wormtail, Padfoot, and Prongs_." Harry looked to Sirius, "You made this when you became Animagi for Remus, didn't you?"

Sirius grinned. "Yup. We spent more hours in the library researching that than we did revising for our O.W.Ls and N.E.W.Ts combined. When all of you have become Animagi…"

" 'All of you'?" Hermione asked.

"Of course! We can't have just one Marauder at Hogwarts. It wouldn't be proper."

"Your idea of 'proper'," Remus chuckled, "has gotten us in more trouble than not, Padfoot."

"Oh really?" Sirius shot back, "Hey, Moony, does, 'Here, Padfoot, use this Filibuster to see if the grease in Snape's hair is an accelerant or retardant,' sound familiar?"

Remus blushed. "I haven't a clue as to what you're talking about. Although," He added as an afterthought, "the grease was a retardant, rather than an accelerant. James won a lot of money off that bet." 

Hermione, Mrs. Weasley, and Percy looked scandalized during their conversation, while Harry, Ron, Ginny, and the twins grinned deviously.

Hermione grabbed a non-book shaped package. "Here you go, Harry." He opened the package to discover a wristwatch, to replace the one he ruined at the Second Task. He strapped it on and set the time. He idly noted the watch face was gold with red hands and numbers.

"And now," chimed Fred.

"You must," George said.

"Open our present!" They chorused as one. A vibrantly wrapped package was thrust in Harry's hands. He opened it cautiously, expecting the worst. Instead he found yet another book, _Seeking the Slightly Hard to See Snitch: A Seeker's Guide to Seeking the Snitch_. Harry grinned and opened the book, only to have his hair turned neon pink. Grinning sheepishly, Harry pulled at his new do, only to discover it pulled right out to reveal his usual shaggy black hair. Putting the book aside, he accepted gifts from Bill and Charlie.

"They go together, so it's only natural you open them together.," Bill explained.

Harry pulled off the paper from Bill's and Charlie's presents, decorated in pyramids and dragons, respectively, and opened the boxes to discover a pair of dragon hide boots, fingerless gloves, and vest, with regular black trousers and a white tee shirt.

"The boots, gloves, and vest," Charlie explained, "are made of from Pennsylvanian Pyro's skin. They're some of the strongest dragon hide clothes you'll ever see. I had to special order it from a friend over in the States."

"The shirt and trousers are woven from Egyptian Griffin fur. It's exceptionally resilient against potions. It'll help you through Snape's class." Bill tugged at his own shirt. "I can't begin to count how many times my shirt has saved me from some of the poisons left behind by the Pharaohs."

"Thanks, I can't wait to try them on."

Ron tossed a small, bright orange package to Harry. "You'll like this one. It's a real catch."

Harry eyed Ron and opened the package. Inside was a small glass box, and inside that box was a mounted snitch, with different signatures across it. "Whose names are those?"

Ron rolled his eyes. "They're _only_ the signatures of the Chudley Cannons. They started a new program to raise fans. All you have to do is send in someone's name and birth date and they'll send an autographed Snitch. I submitted your name. The best part, though, is the fact that the Snitch still works. You just give it the proper charms to set height and whatnot, then we can play a real game of Quidditch."

Harry grinned, "Hey, Charlie, want to see who can get the Snitch first tomorrow?"

Charlie's eyes lit up. "Wouldn't miss it for the world."

Ginny handed Harry a small rectangular package. "Here you go Harry, it's not much, but I thought you might like it."

Harry opened it. "_To Kill A Mockingbird_?"

"Why would Harry need to know how to kill a song bird?" Ron snorted.

Hermione swatted Ron's arm. "It's a Muggle book, Ron. It's about a girl in Southern America around the turn of the century. It's quite good actually."

Ron rolled his eyes, "Hermione, every book is, 'quite good,' too you."

Harry just sighed and flipped through his new book in an attempt to ignore the upcoming quarrel. As he idly looked at the pages something caught his eye.

"Gin?"

Ginny turned away from watching the argument. "Yes?"

"What in the world does, 'DOOOOOO JESUS!' mean?"

*~*~*~*~*~*~*

A.N.2: Here's the end of Chapter 9. There's only one reference in this chapter. It's a slightly altered line from Gundam Wing: Endless Waltz. I'll even be nice and tell you that Duo said it then, and Gin said it now. TTFN!


	10. Surprising Announcements

A.N.: Nobody got the reference in the last chapter, even Kat missed it, and she's caught every other one so far! Maybe I hid it too well…Well, the line was Ginny's comment to Harry, "You know, I wouldn't be surprised if one day you started saying that, due to your lack of effort, there's no magic in Muggles." This line was borrowed from Duo, in _Gundam Wing: Endless Waltz_, about Quatre, "You know, I wouldn't be surprised if one day he started saying that, due to his lack of effort, there's no air in space." I promise the references will be easier to spot this time around.

A.N. 2: Some people thought that the Dragon Diamond core of Harry's staff was a reference to Escaflowne. To be honest, I've never watched it, and if there is a Dragon Diamond in Escaflowne, it's purely a coincidence. 

*~*~*~*~*~*

The morning that the Weasley's left for King's Cross was, as usual, pandemonium. Even Hermione was unable to escape the lure of summer laziness, and spending most of the summer in the company of Ron Weasley and Harry Potter only added fuel to the fire. So it was that morning that Ron got to hear Hermione let loose a few expletives when Crookshanks insisted on being under foot and out of carrier.

"'Mione!"

Hermione whipped around, anger etched into her features. "What? I'm a little busy Ron, so make it quick!"

Ron smirked. "Since when is Crookshanks a, 'Bloody useless git of a cat!'?"

A blush lit up her cheeks. "Sorry, I'm just a little stressed, that's all."

Fred strolled past, a box partially concealed in his robes. "If your stressed now I can't wait to hear what you say when your O.W.L.s are only a few weeks away."

Hermione just hung her head and sighed, "Just bugger off, Fred."

Ron and Fred shared and grin and went about their packing.

*~*~*~*

The rest of the morning went past relatively uneventfully, with the exception of Fawkes pouting when Harry sent him ahead to Hogwarts, and then trilling quite loudly when Harry relented and let Hedwig fly there with him. 

They arrived at King's Cross via ministry cars, and were quickly ushered inside by Mr. Weasley. That's when they encountered the first big surprise of the school year.

"There's nobody here!" 

Mr. Weasley turned to Ron. "Yes, Dumbledore arranged to have this place closed until the Hogwarts Express has left the building, then it will be opened to Muggles again. He said he also arranged for extra security on the train itself, but didn't say what."

The group of redheads, plus Harry and Hermione, quickly walked through the station to the barrier between platforms Nine and Ten. They passed through without trouble and arrived on platform 9 ¾. 

The twins said a quick goodbye to their parents and went in search of their friend, and cohort in crime, Lee Jordan. Harry, Hermione, Ginny, and Ron each got a hug, kiss, and were told to stay out of trouble by Mrs. Weasley, and Mr. Weasley told them to keep their wits about them this year.

As they were stowing their luggage away Harry discovered something about his new appearance. Girls really liked it. He blushing as red as a Weasley after the Patil twins, a few seventh year Hufflepuffs, and, disturbingly enough, Millicent Bulstrode tried to pinch, touch, or otherwise feel him up. He practically ran for the compartment when a silver, Muggle coin was thrown at his backside.

As the four Griffindors got settled in their compartment their door slid open.

"Well, Potter, it seems you finally managed to grow up a bit."

Without even looking Harry responded, "Go away Malfoy."

"Malfoy? You must need your glasses back, Potter."

It was then Harry realized that the voice was too high to be Malfoy's. Turning he was greeted to the rather unpleasant visage of Pansy Parkinson. 

"Surprised, Potter? Draco's not feeling to well, so I decided to come find you and find out what you did to him."

A confused look passed between the Griffindors. Pansy rolled her eyes.

"Draco is never sick. You had to have done something to him." She planted her fists on her hips and started impatiently tapping her foot. "Well? Spill already, tell me how to make him feel better!"

Ron snorted. "How could we have done anything to him? We just got here."

"A likely story."

Harry sighed. "Go away Parkinson. We didn't do anything, just leave us alone."

Pansy whipped out her wand and was on the verge of casting a hex when a deep, baritone voice interrupted. "What's going on here?" 

Pansy turned sharply and spat venomously, "Who are you?"

"You can call me Preventer Wind." Icy blue eyes focused on the Slitherin girl from behind long, platinum blond locks. His right hand was inside his dark navy robes, undoubtedly ready to draw his wand, if needed. Not that he needed it. His robes didn't hide the fact that he was a well-built man, his muscles hardened from use. "Now, tell me what's going on?"

Pansy shrank back under his intense gaze. "It's p-p-Potter, sir. He won't tell me what he did to Draco."

Preventer Wind narrowed his eyes. "Our detectors have registered no magic from Mr. Potter, dark or otherwise. Now go away and stop harassing other students." Needless to say, Pansy got away from there as quickly as dignity allowed. The man turned to Harry and the others. "Are you all okay?"

"We're fine, sir." Harry answered.

"Excuse me, uh, Preventer Wind," Hermione asked, ", but what's a Preventer?"

"The Preventers," he answered, ", are a group of witches and wizards, formed shortly after the fall of the Dark Lord Voldemort, who are separate from the Ministry of Magic. We work towards preventing the rise of Dark Lords. While the Fudge has foolishly ignored Professor Dumbledore's warnings that Voldemort has risen again, we cannot ignore such a claim. I, along with a few others, have been stationed at Hogwarts as guards, and will also be questioning the students and faculty about the possibilities of Voldemort's resurrection. One of us will also be taking over your Defense Against the Dark Arts class, to better prepare you."

Ginny spoke up. "Who's going to be teaching us?"

The Preventer smiled, "You'll have to wait and see. Dumbledore told us not to tell anyone who the new teacher is. Now, if everything is cleared up here, I must return to my rounds."

The trio, plus Ginny, quickly got settled after the incident, and quickly digressed to more entertaining activities. For Harry and Ron, this meant a vicious game of wizarding chess, Hermione pulled out a Muggle paperback book and began reading, and Ginny alternated between giving Harry advice and playing a game of Solitaire with Exploding Snap cards. This proved to be rather hazardous for Ginny, as the cards would begin to smoke when she didn't place any new ones, and they sparked violently if she tried to cheat. So naturally, when they arrived at Hogwarts, Ginny had several scorch marks on her hands.

*~*~*~*~*~*

"Hufflepuff!"

The last echoes of the sorting hat rang out through the hall, the last child to be sorted sat at her table, and Dumbledore stood up for the announcements he traditionally delivered at the beginning of every new term.

"I would like to welcome all of you back to Hogwarts for another year of magical learning, fun, and mayhem if the Weasley twins have anything to say about it. I must tell you all that the Forbidden Forest is, once again, forbidden to all students, unless escorted by a member of the Hogwarts staff. Now, as some of you may have noticed, Hagrid is not here. So, until he returns later in the year, the esteemed Professor Remus Lupin will be teaching Care of Magical Creatures."

At this announcement the entire Great Hall, sans some of the more reserved Ravenclaws who clapped politely, and the entirety of Slytherin table, broke out into wild applause and fireworks, provided by the Twins, of course.

Dumbledore smiled and signaled for silence again. "Now, I have just one more announcement. As some of you may have noticed there are a few extra staff members. These are the Preventers. They're a group of highly dedicated witches and wizards focused on stopping dark lords from rising. Coincidentally one of them will be teaching your Defense Against the Dark Arts class this year. It also just happens to be that it was I who founded the Preventers. Therefore I will be teaching your Defense Against Dark Arts class this year."

Stunned silence filled the hall.

Dumbledore's eyes twinkled in their special way. "Tuck in everyone!"

With this announcement food appeared on the tables before the students. This seemed to break the stunned silence as everybody began to fill their plates with their favorite foods and talk of the new school year.

Harry had just begun to eat his roast beef when a hand came down gently on his shoulder. He turned to see who it was.

"Harry, I…we need to talk." 

Harry swallowed the bite of roast beef. It found its way to his stomach like a lead brick. Cho Chang was looking him straight in the face.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~

__

Elsewhere…

"So tell me Lucious, how did dear Draco take the news?"

Lucious Malfoy, kneeling at Voldemort's feet, raised his masked face to answer. "He is shaken up, my Lord, but otherwise acting normally."

The Dark Lord smiled, baring serpentine fangs. "Well, how else would you expect someone to act when they have just discovered they're related to the most powerful wizard ever?"

~*~*~*~*~*~*~

A.N.: Ohh!! Not one but two cliffhangers! I'm oh so evil! Sorry I haven't posted recently, but I've been super busy with school. Also, sorry I'm not posting any names here, but I kinda misplaced the names of reviewers. Just so you know the reference from this chapter is from _Gundam Wing: Endless Waltz_ also. He should be pretty easy to find ;) Read and Review.

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	11. Talks and Tears

A.N.: Here's a belated Happy Thanksgiving to all you other Americans out there (I am right in thinking no one else celebrates Thanksgiving, right? No offense is meant if I'm wrong). I would also like to brag and say I recently turned 18 ^_^. So now I can be drafted :( Anhoo, while I got good reviews on the last chapter, only two people found the _Gundam Wing: Endless Waltz_ references. Zechs Merquise and the Preventers are blatantly borrowed from the Gundamverse. The two reviewers are:

Temporary Insanity – He caught the Preventers, but missed Zechs.

Lady Prongs – She found everything. So go read her stuff, I think I've read some of it (I read _a lot_ of fanfics. But since her name is sticking in my head I'll assume it was a good story.).

Now, forward! To victory!…or the story, which ever happens first.

*~*~*~*~*~*~*

"Harry, I…we need to talk."

Cho watched the blood drain from Harry's face, and would have found his reaction amusing, had the situation not been so dire. As it was she was already terrified of finding out what had happened, but she had to know. Cho watched as he turned back to his friends and looked at them. The younger Weasley reached across the table and squeezed his hand briefly before Harry got up and walked toward the exit of the Great Hall.

Cho quickly followed after Harry, and they walked in silence down several hallways and staircases. Eventually Harry stopped at a portrait of fruit in one of the lower corridors. She was about to ask what he was doing when he reached out and tickled the pear. Her thin eyebrows rose in surprise when a handle appeared and he opened the portrait, revealing the impressively large kitchens of Hogwarts.

"Harry Potter has come to visit Dobby!"

Cho couldn't help but grin when on of the house elves latched onto Harry's midriff and proceeded to hug him and shower him with praises of Harry's greatness. Harry gave her a sheepish grin and pried the house elf, whose name appeared to be Dobby, off him.

"Hello Dobby, I was wondering if Cho and I could have some privacy down here."

Dobby gave Cho a critical glance, then threw a questioning glance at Harry. "Dobby thought most others went to the Astronomy Tower."

Both Harry and Cho blushed at this, but Harry recovered quickly. "No Dobby, we're not dating. This is about what happened last year."

Dobby immediately sobered up at this. "So it is about v-v-v-v-Vol-Voldemort?" Dobby smiled at the surprised expression on Harry's face. "Dobby has been practicing saying His name. Professor Dumbledore suggested we practice, and Dobby and Winky are the only ones who tried."

Harry smiled thinly, "Nice job Dobby. Now, about that privacy?"

"Right this way sir."

Dobby led them to a quiet corner and, with his house elf magic, conjured up a pair of comfy chairs and a small table between them. They sat down and a somber air descended on them once again. Neither one looked at the other, and it was Cho who broke the silence.

"Harry, tell me…what exactly happened last year, at the Third Task, what happened to Cedric?" 

Harry looked up, took a deep breath, and began. "Well, we met up near the end of the maze, and a giant spider had ambushed Cedric…"

~~~~

"…then I managed to grab the trophy and Port Key away from Voldemort." 

Tears trickled down Cho's cheeks. "How could you Harry?"

"Cho, I'm sorry, I didn't know, I-" 

She looked up, trying meet his eyes, "How could you go through that, and stay sane?"

Harry didn't hear her whispered reply and continued to apologize to her as tears flowed down his face. "I'm sorry Cho, it's my fault. It should've been me that died, not Cedric, it's my fault he was even there. I'm the reason to blame that Voldemort is back."

**__**

CRACK!

Harry's hand moved to his cheek, where Cho had slapped him, then quickly looked to Cho. But his eyes still held that shamed look, and Cho realized that Harry thought he deserved that. She quickly dissuaded him of that notion. "You had no idea that Moody was really a Death Eater! And there was no way that you could've known that the trophy was a Port Key. So stop blaming yourself, and get this through your thick head. Cedric died because You-Know-Who is an evil bastard. By blaming yourself you're dishonoring his memory. Do you want to do that?" Harry shook his head. "Good, then stop being sorry for yourself." With that she stood up and pulled Harry into a fierce hug, while burying her face in his neck and crying. "I miss Cedric, there's no denying that. But you're blameless in this matter. If anything, it's my fault."

"Huh?"

Cho bitterly smiled up at Harry. "I convinced him to put his name in the goblet in the first place. I suppose he did it to impress me. But I didn't know it would lead to this, there's no way I could have. So I'll live my life cherishing my memories with Cedric."

Harry released Cho and wiped his eyes on the back of his sleeve. "Thank you Cho. But I still need to apologize to you."

She narrowed her eyes. "I told you, it's not your fault."

Harry chuckled. "No, it's not about that. I'm just sorry that I acted like such a prat around you last year."

Cho grinned. "I'll admit I found it kind of flattering. It's not often the "Great Harry Potter" has a crush on you."

Harry grinned sheepishly and held out his hand. "Friends?"

Cho grasped his hand. "Friends."

~~~~

Harry walked down the hallway to Griffindor Tower, mulling over his thoughts. He was so lost in them that he managed to walk right into the Fat Lady's portrait.

"Do watch where you're going!"

Harry grinned. "Sorry about that."

The Fat Lady sniffed at him and asked, "Password?"

Harry realized he hadn't got the password from Hermione earlier, and was stuck outside the common room. "Er, can't you just let me in, you know this is my common room."

The Fat Lady began to respond, when the portrait swung open on it own accord. Ginny stepped out.

"There you are Harry, we've been waiting for you."

"You have?"

Ginny nodded. "After Hermione realized you didn't have the password Ron went up to your room and got some map out of your trunk so we could see where you were. You're lucky that I just woke up and saw your dot moving towards us."

Harry scratched his head. "Woke up?"

"It's midnight Harry, don't you have a watch?"

"The lake sort of killed it last year. Sorry to have kept you all up for me."

Ginny grinned maliciously, "It's okay, I just wished I had Colin's camera."

"Why?"

"Come and see."

With that Ginny stepped back into Griffindor Tower and Harry followed. He heard her snicker and then turn to him and point at one of the couches. There, curled up in front of the fireplace, was Ron and Hermione. His arm was around her shoulders, and her head was tucked in the crook of his shoulder. They both had contented smiles on their faces.

Ginny went to wake them up, but Harry stopped her. "Let them sleep, we'll bother the…the…" here a huge yawn spit Harry's face as the day's events caught up with him, "we'll bother them in the morning."

Ginny snickered at Harry. "Harry Potter, The-Boy-Who-Played-Matchmaker."

Harry snorted. "Hardly, I've just had enough of emotional experiences for one night."

"Did everything go okay?"

Harry nodded, "As well as can be expected."

"So are you and Cho…"

"Just friends."

Ginny smiled. "Good. Well, goodnight Harry."

Harry yawned, not really paying attention anymore, practically asleep on his feet. "G'night Gin." With that Harry crawled up the stairs to the fifth year's boy's dorm, changed into his nightclothes, and fell asleep before his head hit the pillow. 

*~*~*~*~*~*~*

A.N.: Another chapter done! Now to give you the hints to find the hidden references in this chapter………there are none. Since this was a more serious chapter, I couldn't work any in and keep the mood right. But I'll try to put two in the next chapter to make it up, I promise!


	12. Arrangements

A.N.: Sorry I haven't been around in a while, but everything in my life has been rather hectic since about Christmas, we had a family crisis from then until two weeks ago. I've also suffered from a writer's block the size of Texas. Good thing there are such things as shrinking charms, huh? I know I said no one would get mentioned in this chapter as there were no references in the lost one, but Holy Sasami pointed a rather obvious mistake on my part. I'm assuming no one else saw it and we'll just pretend it never happened. It was just a minor detail so it won't affect the plot in any way.

Now move along, there's nothing to see here…the story continues down below ^_^

*~*~*~*~*~*~*

"Now, class, as you know, vampires frequent both the wizarding world and Muggle world. While they are easily noted by wizards, they tend to blend in with Muggles. It usually takes a rather heinous vampire to gain some form of notice by Muggles. One such vampire, called Barlow, nearly wiped out the Muggle town of Jerusalem's Lot in the early 1970's…"

Harry tuned out professor Binns's voice as he sat in what was considered the most boring class at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, History of Magic. Normally, Harry showed a little more respect towards his teachers and at least feigned interest, but professor Binns, the only ghost to teach a class, rarely remembered any student's name, much less if they were paying attention in class. 

The sound of a quill scratching parchment to his left caught Harry's attention. Ron was sitting there and Harry was surprised that his friend, who usually slept through this class, would even listen, much less take notes. Upon further inspection the "notes" proved to be Quidditch plays. Ever since he had made the team a few weeks as the new Keeper Ron had practically appointed himself the team's strategist. He also saw Ron casting what he thought were furtive glances at Hermione, who was on Harry's right.

They were, yet again, in the middle of another quarrel, or as Ginny had succinctly put it at breakfast, a lover's tiff. This observation, of course, had been timed so that Harry had nearly sprayed orange juice across Neville's face, who had been sitting across from him. He had then had to choke back his laughter and explain to him and Ron that he really was okay and hadn't choked on something.

Hermione hadn't noticed this at breakfast, but it did appear that she had noticed Ron's "clandestine" looks. Every time he looked away she would pause in her note taking, smile faintly, and then resume her note taking. Harry rolled his eyes at their antics and thanked whatever powers there were that he and Ginny didn't act like that.

__

What a minute…since when do I equate myself and Ginny to Ron and Hermione? Harry was snapped out of his inner monologue by the end of class and Professor Binns giving out the homework for the weekend. 

"Please write an essay on vampires and how they have influenced Muggle culture over the past century. Please note this will be material that may appear on your O.W.L.s." With that the door opened and young witches and wizards were released into the hallways of Hogwarts.

The Trio walked to Gryffindor Tower, ready to relax as they had a free period for now. Hermione gave the password ("Phoenix Song.") and let them into the tower. Ron immediately went to his chessboard by the fireplace and Hermione went to one of the sporadically placed squashy armchairs, perfect for reading. Harry rolled his eyes at his friends before putting down his bags and heading back to the exit.

Hermione saw this and asked him where he was going.

"I'll see you tow later, I'm going up to the olwery, I've been meaning to send a letter to Sirius." He held up a rolled up parchment as proof.

"Just don't be too long, we have Potions in half an hour."

"Yes, _mum_, I'll be sure to be home in time." With that Harry ducked out of the portrait hole, only to hear the muffled thump of a book against the Fat Lady's portrait and Ron's snickering.

As soon as he was sure he was alone, Harry pulled out the rolled up piece of parchment, pointed his wand at it, and muttered, "I solemnly swear I'm up to no good." With that incantation spidery lines stretched across the Marauder's Map, creating a perfect map of Hogwarts. With that Harry set sneaked out of the castle, via several secret passages, and made his way to the far side of the lake. After another glance at the map to make sure no one was around he deactivated it and put it back in his pocket.

Harry walked over to one of the rocks lining the shore of the lake and pulled a tree branch out of the ground. Holding it parallel to the ground in both hands he closed his eyes and focused on it. There was a brief flash of red light and a pulse of magic in his hands. When he opened his eyes he was holding his mage staff, the Ruby still glowing slightly. Harry then slipped into his practice katas and, working them to incorporate the staff, proceeded to train for the next hour.

Harry was just preparing to put the hiding charms back on his staff when he heard a voice speak up behind him. "That's a nice staff you have there, Potter."

Harry whirled, pointing the head of the staff at the speaker. When he saw who it was he lowered his staff, but not his guard. "Malfoy, how did you find me here?"

Draco Malfoy smirked, "Just because one doesn't follow someone doesn't mean one can't observe them from other angles."

"That sounds rather Slytherin."

"It is, and it's a lesson you should take heed of. I know it, Professor Snape knows it, and so does Voldemort." Without ever seeming to take his attention off of Harry, Draco surreptitiously drew his wand and pointed it at the edge of the Forbidden Forrest. With a yell He fired off a stunning curse and was rewarded with two yells. "Apparently, they know it too."

Harry turned and saw Fred and George Weasley tumble out of the foliage. "What are you two doing here!?"

"Well, we saw that spiffy…"

"Stick of yours on your birthday and…"

"We just had to know what it was."

"Why didn't you just ask me?"

Fred swatted George's head. "I told you we could just ask him, but you wanted to sneak around, said it was proper Weasley fashion. Twit." George just grinned sheepishly and rubbed the back of his head. He then turned to Harry.

"So Harry, what is that big stick of yours?"

Harry grinned at the twins. "You want to know what it is?"

They nodded.

"Do you really want to know what it is?"

They nodded faster. Draco imagined he could hear a rattling sound coming from their head.

"Do you really, really want to know what it is?"

"For the love of Dumbledore's socks Harry tell us!" Fred pleaded.

"It's…" A twinkle appeared in Harry's eyes that was rather similar to Dumbledore's, "a secret." He took a moment to enjoy the twins dumbstruck expressions. "Well, we best be off Malfoy, we don't want to be late Potions." With that Harry replaced the wards on his staff and put it back by the rock, and then added a Misdirection Charm as well, so only he could find the specific spot.

"Actually, Potter, I wanted to talk to you about something." He rubbed absently at his glove-covered hands.

Harry glanced at Draco out of the corner of his eye. "Okay, Malfoy. How about at the rock tomorrow morning around 7 'O Clock?"

"Okay, Potter, I'll be there."

*~*~*~*~*~*~*

A.N.: Well, another chapter done. There's only one reference in this chapter, and it's to a book written by the "King" of horror stories. Good hunting!


End file.
